Wow, yes I know it's been a loooooooooooong time since I updated this story. I was having SO much trouble writing it, I had writer's block for like…two weeks when I was struck with pure genius (at least that's what I'm going to call it).

AUTHOR'S NOTE! After…probably chapter four…I'm possibly going to put the updates on this one on hold and finish Where I Belong: Dianna's Story because Allegiance will span over many years while Dianna's story does not, and I don't want to give away anything in that story in this one because there will be mentions of what's going on in that story in this one. They're family, they keep each other updated with what's going on.

imurhuckleberry: Sorry for leaving you hanging for over a month. But here's the next chapter!

csorciere: Yes, you do see some more Zevran. In this chapter! And it makes me happy hearing you're enjoying both the stories. It's so hard keeping up with the writing! Aiee!

gurlygurl116: :D Thank you, I'm glad you like it!

Isala Uthenera: I am continuing, it just takes a while for me to write, especially when I lose my mojo. But mojo is back!

Guest: Hahaha, yeah I had to put in the cookie part. And if you like Zev, he'll be in this chapter.

Pollyanna24: I think Alistair would be the sweetest husband! (Not as sweet as my own, but I digress) And they'll find that out this chapter. ;)

CHAPTER THREE

Alistair stared at his wife with wide, terrified eyes. He could practically see smoke billowing out from her ears as her face turned red with rage, her fingers clawing into the letter, looking like she was about to shred it. She looked so pissed, and ready to kill, that he was starting to fear for his own safety and wasn't sure if he should try asking what was wrong. Even darkspawn would have gone running back to their holes if they saw her right now.

"I. Am going. To kill him!" Olyvia roared, slamming the letter down onto the table.

"W-w-who?"

"Who do you think!?" Olyvia shouted.

Alistair shrunk back in his seat. He was sure her being pregnant and "hormonal" as she called it, made her fury that much worse.

"R-right…stupid of me to ask," Alistair said quickly, "What did he do then?"

"He burned down my family's house! With all but my dad inside!" Olyvia exclaimed, and Alistair went from staring in fright to horror, "He tied Dianna to her bed so she couldn't get out, and some of his guard did the same to Mom and Rosemary. The only reason they survived was because the Teyrn got them out just in time. Oh he is…he is so dead! I'll kill him myself!"

"Maker's breath," Alistair said quietly, "He's…gone insane hasn't he?"

"Are you giving him an excuse for his behavior?" Olyvia asked shrilly.

"No! Maker, no! I'm just saying…he's gone completely over the edge rather than walking on it and flirting with insanity when we were traveling together," Alistair replied, "I'm…not surprised, it was bound to happen. I'm sorry your family was the victim of Aedan's anger."

Olyvia was still seething mad, but now she wasn't venting any towards Alistair, turning her death glare back to the letter.

"That's not even all he did," Olyvia said, "You want to know the cause of the civil war? It's right here!" Olyvia pounded her finger against the letter, "Aedan figured out who my family was so he went to their house to search it for anything that might lead him to me, and his brother Fergus, the Teyrn, went to stop him, and Aedan put a blade in his gut!"

Alistair was certain his eyes couldn't grow any wider, "Okay, he may be king, but he is taking this too far, not even he can get away with that. Who could attack their own brother anyway?"

"Aedan can apparently," Olyvia said, "I can't believe…poor Fergus."

Alistair raised an eyebrow, "You speak as if you know him."

"Well…I know a little more than the average Ferelden…I think."

"Right, because of your…freaky 'game' knowledge or whatever," Alistair said.

Olyvia frowned, "It's not freaky."

"Says you, but you really freak me out with things you know," Alistair said.

"Whatever," Olyvia said with a sigh, "But anyway, Fergus has gone through enough, losing his whole family. Considering how Fergus has declared war against him, I'm assuming he doesn't consider Aedan a brother anymore."

"I wouldn't," Alistair grumbled.

Olyvia folded the letter back up, taking in heavy breaths in an effort to calm herself, but it really wasn't working. Putting the letter back into the envelope, she slammed it back down onto the table before shoveling food into her mouth. She needed to distract herself with something else before she ended up breaking something. Alistair sat quietly in his seat, eating his meal a forkful at a time, too scared to make any sudden movements or speak. She finished her food before him, and after dumping the dishes in the sink, she grabbed the letters and headed off to read the one from Dianna elsewhere. Finishing up his dinner, Alistair went over to the sink and began to wash the dishes. The kitchen felt the safest place to be now that his fuming wife was in another room.

He had gotten nearly all the dishes cleaned when Olyvia came back into the kitchen, looking dumbfounded as she stared at the letter in her hand, making Alistair extremely curious as to what the letter held that caused such an extreme change in her mood.

"Do I dare ask, what now?" Alistair asked cautiously.

"Apparently Fergus has a thing for my sister, Dianna," Olyvia replied, "He kissed her, but Dianna thinks it's only because she looks a lot like Oriana, his deceased wife. Yeah, she kind of does, now that I think about it."

"I'm lost," Alistair muttered.

Olyvia then had to explain to Alistair what happened at Highever Castle after Fergus left with the army to aid the king during the Blight. Alistair knew the whole family had been slaughtered, from Aedan's own account, what little he did tell of it, but Alistair had no idea the current Teyrn had been married, his wife and son killed that night.

"Oh…," Alistair said quietly once she finished, "With your sister looking so much like his deceased wife, I bet it brings up a lot of painful memories just seeing her."

"That or he's able to look past it and likes her for her," Olyvia said, "At any rate, she's confused on what to do and has asked for my advice…so I'm going to be thinking about what to write for the next hour or two. Honestly, how does she think I'll be able to help?"

She started to leave again when she screeched to a halt, and back up into the kitchen again, "When I write back to my parents, shall I ask my mom if sex while pregnant is okay?"

Alistair's face turned beet red, his ears burning hotly in embarrassment, "Ask your mother if—no! D-don't ask that! T-t-too embarrassing."

"So you'd rather go without?"

"I…well I…stop confusing me woman!"

"Shall I ask someone else then?" Olyvia asked with a chuckle.

"Just…do whatever you want, I'll just never live it down," Alistair replied, turning back around and resumed where he left off with cleaning the dishes.

Olyvia chuckled again and left to go back to their room to write the return letters. Alistair's ears still burned with his blush. You just didn't…talk about that sort of thing with other people.

When Alistair headed to bed that night, he found his wife still writing away on the parchment. He walked over to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek before moving over to the bed, pulling off his tunic and tossing it into his drawer so he was ready to crawl into bed.

"You coming to bed anytime soon?" he asked as he crawled under the covers.

"I'm finishing up the letter to my parents," Olyvia replied, "Took me a while to figure out what to write to Dianna, but I finally figured it out. I won't be long, the lamp will be out soon."

"Take your time," Alistair said, stretching out on the bed so he was taking up as much space as his large stature could, which was just about the entire bed, "So what did you decide on telling your sister?"

"To just…talk to him," Olyvia replied, "That's really the only way to clear things up between them. From what she told me, it sounded like there was a big misunderstanding between the two of them and absolutely no communication between them. The number one reason relationships don't work, is because the couple don't talk."

"Sounds like good advice to me."

"Except I doubt she'll talk to him," Olyvia sighed, "She's just so shy."

"Well, you were rather shy yourself."

"She's even worse. Like a hundred times worse."

"Oh…well…good luck to her then."

Olyvia went back to focusing on her letter, Alistair hearing the quill scratch against the parchment as she continued to furiously write away on it. After another few minutes, she finally finished, blowing on the ink so it would dry faster before folding it up and placing it in a simple envelope, writing the address that it was to be sent to. Once both letters were set out for Alistair to grab on his way out, Olyvia changed out of her dress into a nightgown, and crawled under the covers next to her husband, moving his leg and arm out of her way.

"Goodnight kiss," Olyvia whispered, turning his head towards her to give him a kiss on the lips, before rolling over onto her side so she would be comfortable.

Alistair rolled over as well and slung an arm over her side, his hand resting on her belly again, "I love you, goodnight."

"Love you too."


The following day at work was a long day for Alistair, the hours ticking by like years it seemed. His day didn't go over well either. He had been yelled at by a few customers, some wealthy young men who thought they knew their swords and how to wield one. Alistair didn't bother trying to correct them, and let them take their blasted swords, hoping they would cut themselves for their idiocy. As he walked home, he was definitely hoping Olyvia would be in a better mood than she was yesterday after those letters. He didn't want to have to tread lightly around his own house, and just grouse around for a little, maybe take a long, hot bath to help him relax and get rid of the grime caked onto his skin. And a large meal. With a measly lunch, his Grey Warden appetite was just raving. Even with having the taint diminished within him due to Avernus's treatment, he still had the appetite of a Grey Warden, much to the chagrin of his and Olyvia's coin purse. Luckily his job replenished that enough.

"Hi, I'm home," Alistair announced unenthusiastically as he entered the house, kicking off his boots just inside the doorway.

He was surprised to find his wife scurry across the room as fast as her waddling body would allow, and throw her arms around his neck as she kissed him. Well, today was already getting better.

"I'm still covered in grime, and you give me a kiss?" Alistair asked incredulously, "What happened? What…what day is it? Is today some sort of anniversary?"

Olyvia giggled, "No, it's not. I just wanted to kiss you. I missed you a lot today. Did you send off the letters?"

"Just about the one thing I did right today," Alistair said with a groan, setting his pack down.

"Another bad day at work?"

"Got yelled at by a few customers," Alistair replied, rotating his shoulders to get his muscles moving, trying to help them relax, "And then the usual of getting burns and cuts, well, a little more than usual, but I'll live."

Grabbing her husband's hands, Olyvia brought lifted them to her face to inspect them, her brow furrowing seeing the fresh cuts and burns.

"Oh, my poor love," Olyvia kissed his knuckles, "Feel better?"

"Maybe a little," Alistair said, before wrapping a hand around his wife's waist and pulled her closer to give her a firm kiss, "Now I feel better."

Olyvia smiled up at her husband, "Well, I have some news that might make your day better."

"Aedan died?"

Olyvia chuckled, "No, although that would be fantastic. I hope you won't be too terribly embarrassed or upset with me about this, but…I spoke with Evelyn today about our…intimacy."

Alistair groaned, "Great, and there goes my good feeling. I'm just going to hide myself in the washroom, maybe drown myself in the tub."

He went to walk around her, but when his wife's hands wrapped around his forearm he stopped and turned back to her, his face steadily starting to turn red.

"Just want to let you know that yes, it is okay," Olyvia said with a sheepish grin.

"Oh…well I guess that is good to know…for the sake of my privacy."

"I didn't mention anything too private, but I figured you'd prefer to know than suffer the rest of my pregnancy, and then some."

Alistair grumbled under his breath, not wanting to agree with her, but he sort of did. Closing the distance between the two of them, Olyvia gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you," she said, "And I'm sorry if I've embarrassed you. It's just…well…you're not the only one who was suffering."

"I love you too, and it's okay," Alistair said, kissing her forehead, "I'll get over it. I'm not upset with you, just…I don't think I'll ever be able to look Evelyn in the face ever again."

Olyvia chuckled, "She understands my predicament exactly though, she understands how needy men are."

"I'm not needy!" Alistair said indignantly.

Olyvia raised an eyebrow, "Uh-huh…anyway, she won't bring it up, she won't even look at you funny."

"Well…then I guess it'll be easier."

"So anyway…you may now go clean up and I'll start putting supper on the table."

With a nod, Alistair went ahead and did that, deciding to take his hot bath after supper. He was pleased to see it was a fairly large meal upon entering the dining room, and ate over half of it. There would still be some left for him to take to work as his lunch on the morrow. Ugh, thinking of another day of work made him groan. He couldn't wait for his weekend.

The two of them worked on washing the dishes while Olyvia heated some water for Alistair's bath, and when he finished his part of the dishes, filled the tub partway with cold water to add the boiled water to. With Olyvia being six months pregnant, both of them decided it was best if she didn't lift anything too heavy, and lugging the water around was a hefty task.

Adding the large cauldron of hot water later, Alistair tested the temperature and found it just perfect. Stripping down, he got into the tub and let the hot water work at relaxing his muscles. Closing his eyes, he allowed his body to unwind.

"Is there room for the pregnant lady too?"

Opening his eyes, he found Olyvia standing next to the tub with only her robe on.

"I could use a bath," she added.

"There is always room for my wife when it involves her being naked," Alistair said, earning a splash of water into his face.

Hanging her robe on the wooden rack with their towels, she carefully climbed into the tub as Alistair sputtered out the water she splashed at him. She sat so her back was against Alistair's chest, giving her a comfortable, and warm backrest. Alistair wound his arms around, and rested his hands on her belly.

"Just three more months," Alistair whispered into her ear.

Olyvia smiled, "Been counting down the months have we?"

"I've been counting the days," Alistair replied, "I can't wait until the little one is born."

"Me too," Olyvia said, "But that's because the constant kicking me in the bladder isn't fun."

Alistair chuckled, "Hasn't moved from that spot?"

"Seems to be their favorite position. They keep going back to it."

"Oh so they have moved around a bit then, that's good."

Olyvia nodded in agreement, "I'd worry otherwise."

After relaxing for a few minutes, the two helped each other bathe, which was mostly splashing each other in the face, telling the other they were trying to help get their hair wet. Olyvia was finished first, since she didn't have the same coat of grime Alistair did, and got out to let him take care of that. Wrapping her robe around her after drying off, she grabbed her hairbrush and began brushing out her hair, going to the bedroom to sit down on the bed and be comfortable while she did so. A few minutes after setting her brush down on the desk, and lying on her side on the bed, Alistair entered the room, with only his towel wrapped around his waist. Kneeling down onto the bed, he bent down and kissed his wife.

"So…what was it you were telling me earlier we could do?"


Zevran was perched high up in an oak tree, the green foliage thick in the spring weather giving him the perfect amount of cover to hide himself from the "ever vigilant" castle guard. Aedan really hadn't made that good of choice in the men he hired, Zevran caught most of them snoozing while they were to be guarding. There were even a few times Zevran was able to just waltz right through the gardens and the guards not take notice because they were sleeping.

So why was Zevran hanging out in a tree at the palace in Denerim? Well, after making sure Alistair and Olyvia were doing well in Antiva, he returned to Ferelden to watch Aedan, see what other plans he was doing. Of course, when he arrived in Denerim, Aedan wasn't to be found, having gone to Highever again in search for the fugitives. When Aedan first sent Zevran out on this quest, he told the assassin he wanted him to return every two months or so to give him an update, and he was getting close to yet another update. To inform him he had nothing of course. Zevran was very good with lying and bluffing, he did it for a living for years. Only another Crow could possibly tell he was lying, and only possibly, he was just that good.

He spent most of his time hanging out in the oak tree in the gardens, the Queen seemed particularly fond of walking through them when she was troubled to help calm her mind, and being married to Aedan, she was troubled constantly.

Lounging in the tree, playing with his daggers, his elven ears caught the sound of voices, the Queen's and someone else's that he vaguely recognized. Pivoting around to where he was laying down on the thick oak branch, he peered through the trees to see who it was. The black hair and sour countenance gave the man away at once. The Queen's father, Loghain. He must have been back from fulfilling Grey Warden duties.

"I worry for your safety Anora," he was saying, "Your…husband, clearly is not stable."

"I've been just fine the last six months," she replied, "He's too focused on other things to bother with me."

"But now he needs you to do something for him," Loghain said, "Being merely your consort, he doesn't have the power to raise the armies he so desires to start this war. This is a decision both of you have to make, and I know you're against it."

"I've called for a Landsmeet so the issue with Teyrn Cousland can be settled, and the right way," Anora said, "I do not trust a single word Aedan says so I won't take his word and allow him to march an army to Highever. Teyrn Cousland is a powerful, and loyal ally to the royal family, I won't have his brother needlessly slaughter a city in a tantrum brought about by sibling rivalry."

"I do not think it is simply that," Loghain sighed. They were now under the oak tree so Zevran could hear them very clearly, "And as your father, it's my job to tell you that you are also partially to blame."

"Me!?" Anora asked incredulously, "How is Aedan's temper issues my fault?"

"You know his only focus is hunting down Maric's bastard son and that woman of his," Loghain replied, "Had you not suggested killing Alistair, this might have turned out differently."

"Alistair wanted to have you killed father!" Anora retorted, the two were quickly moving away, and wanting to hear the rest of this intriguing conversation, Zevran nimbly slipped down the trunk and followed behind, hiding behind the hedges and flower speckled bushes, "I was not going to let him convince Aedan to do that."

"From what I've seen, no one is able to convince Aedan to do anything," Loghain grumbled, and Zevran had to nod in agreement.

"He's a blood-thirsty bastard, I'm certain he would have killed Alistair himself eventually," Anora went on, "So it's not my fault."

"Not entirely your fault," Loghain said, "But you do understand why I say you are also responsible."

Anora sighed, and nodded, "I do…oh father, I don't know why I ever agreed to marry him! It seemed like a good idea at the time, and…and he was very convincing. Maybe marrying Alistair would have been better."

Zevran rolled his eyes. There would have been no way Alistair would have done that, or Olyvia allowing it. Olyvia probably would have strangled Anora for mentioning it, even in passing and not really considering it as an option. Alistair and Olyvia were deeply in love, a bond so strong that nothing would ever tear them apart and they had proven that.

"Maybe…but could you really live with someone who looked so much like Cailan?"

"Well maybe if you hadn't killed Cailan in the first place, we wouldn't even have this issue!" Anora snapped, "So maybe this is all your fault, father."

Zevran cringed. Ooh, what a comeback, that one had to sting.

"Anora," Loghain chided.

"Don't Anora me father," she interrupted, "I loved Cailan! And you killed him because you thought him as childish, believing the Grey Wardens were the key to defeating the Blight. Now you know he was right!"

"I know," Loghain said sorrowfully, "And I…I am sorry for what I've done. I did not know it would cause you this much suffering. I didn't…I didn't know you loved him."

"Well maybe you should have talked to me," Anora rebutted, "Then you would have."

They continued to talk about their broken relationship, how difficult it would be for Anora to trust her father again, and Zevran was quickly getting bored of the conversation. Couldn't they go back to talking about Aedan's plans? Rounding another corner, Zevran suddenly found himself being yelled at.

"Halt! Who are you and what are you doing in the palace gardens?"

Turning around, Zevran found a guard approaching him, spear held out threateningly. Wow, so one wasn't snoozing, what a surprise.

Anora and Loghain, who weren't much further ahead of him, whirled around, startled to find someone else beside the guard was there.

"I have been called for a meeting with his Majesty," Zevran replied. Phew, thank goodness Aedan was actually expecting him, this could have ended messily. He hadn't expected the guard to be where he was, or awake.

"Right, we'll just see about—."

"He is telling the truth, guardsman," Anora said, "Aedan hired him six months ago. Do you have news for him?"

Zevran turned to face the Queen, "No more news than usual. I can't exactly do my job two months at a time. The trail can get cold."

Anora sighed, "This will only worsen his temper. Guardsman, please escort him to the study. I believe that is where his Majesty is currently."

The guard paled, "V-v-very well, your Highness."

Motioning for the elf to follow, the guard turned and headed towards the castle entrance. Though Zevran had hoped to postpone his meeting with Aedan a few more days, he could see him now. Walking through the castle halls, Zevran swiped a few valuables, stealthily of course. No one would miss them, not for a while at least.

They hadn't even reached the study when Zevran could hear the sounds of destruction. Once outside the study door, both he and the guard could hear it was coming from inside. The guard was shaking like a leaf he was so terrified to knock. Pitying the man, Zevran stepped forward and knocked.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh it's just your favorite elven assassin," Zevran replied coolly, though he was slightly unnerved by the man. He was, after all, still a Grey Warden and could kill Zevran, though with much more difficulty with his injured arm, "Do not worry, I was escorted inside by your guard."

The guard gave the elf a look of gratitude, allowing him to not speak. He did jump though as the door was ripped open, and a livid Aedan stood in the doorway.

"You better have some good news," Aedan seethed.

Looking past him, Zevran could see the study was in complete disarray. Aedan definitely had terrible temper tantrums.

"Do you wish for me to step inside so we may speak privately?" Zevran asked.

With a jerking motion, he opened the door further and stood sideways to allow enough room for Zevran to pass. As he walked in, Aedan shot a glare at the guard.

"Get back to your post!"

With a quick nod, the guard hurried away. Zevran winced as the door was slammed behind him.

"Doing some redecorating?" Zevran asked, giving the room an overall glance. It looked awful, like he hadn't bothered cleaning up after a few tantrums and let it get worse.

"Just spit it out already Zevran," Aedan snapped, "I am not in the mood for your evasiveness. Have you found them?"

Zevran took in a deep breath, and let it out in a quick short breath before replying, "No."

Aedan roared in anger before grabbing the end of the desk and upturning it, sending papers flying and the inkwell crashing to the floor, creating a large black puddle on the floor.

"Why not!?" Aedan roared.

"Um…perhaps because I'm required to come back here every two months and give you an update?" Zevran replied, still keeping his cool, "Trails grow cold over the time it takes to travel back to Denerim."

"Any leads then! Any?"

Zevran shook his head. Aedan stomped over to him, stopping a few inches short, and peered down at him, his green eyes locking with Zevran's golden ones. He appeared to be looking for something, to tell whether he was lying or being honest perhaps? Zevran had been doing this sort of thing since he was a child, there was nothing Aedan could do to make him drop his guard, or give away his bluff.

"Get out of here," Aedan growled, pointing to the door, "And I don't want to see you again until you have found them, or a lead that will take me to them. Got it?"

"Yes, your Majesty," Zevran said humbly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and bowed before leaving.

He let out a sigh of relief once he was out of there. That was rather stressful. He really expected Aedan to run him through. Now to go back to his oak tree and resume spying.


Not much happened over the next few days, except the nobles arriving for the Landsmeet, but they didn't stay at the castle, just coming to inform the Queen they had arrived before heading to their respective, temporary, homes in Denerim. The real excitement started when Teyrn Cousland arrived. Hearing he was arriving, Zevran made his way into the castle, and spied from above the rafters in the great hall where Queen Anora was waiting for him. He entered the hall, accompanied by two dozen men or more, and approached the Queen, bowing reverently just a few feet away from her.

"Your Highness," he greeted.

"Teyrn Cousland, I am glad you have come to set matters straight," she said with a reverent nod in his direction.

"It is my duty and my honor, your Highness."

Anora jumped as a door slammed loudly against the stone wall, and Zevran bit his lower lip seeing Aedan storm in. Oh this wasn't going to be pretty.

"I told you I didn't want him here!" Aedan roared at Anora, "The only thing to settle is his time of death! He is a traitor to his King and country!"

"That is what the Landsmeet is for," Anora said, "You need to keep your head and do things the proper way Aedan, else you will not keep your title for long."

"Is that a threat?" Aedan whirled around on his wife.

"I'm just reminding you of the laws, Aedan," Anora replied, "You are not exempt from them because you are my consort."

Aedan's lip curled up as he growled. He hated it when she reminded him of his status as her consort.

"The issue you have with your brother will be settled at the Landsmeet," Anora said, "As will your claim to controlling our armies. I will not authorize you to command over them if Teyrn Cousland has done nothing wrong."

Zevran could see Aedan was really close to losing control, and gave props to Anora for having the guts to stand up to Aedan as she were. If anyone else were in her position, they probably would have let Aedan have the power he wanted to avoid a confrontation, or an immediate death.

"But he has wronged me!" Aedan shouted, and the Teyrn just shook his head disapprovingly, as if he couldn't believe Aedan would act this way towards his wife and in front of a crowd.

"I'm not exactly inclined to believe your claim he attacked you," Anora said, "Even if he did, I doubt he would have done so without good reason. If you were acting as you are now, I'd say that was reason enough."

That was enough to make Aedan snap, and with a swing of his left arm, backhanded Anora across the face. Everyone in the room gasped as his gauntleted hand made contact with the soft flesh of her cheek and she spun around from the force of it before falling to the floor. The one thing Aedan didn't realize was that her father was in the room.

"How dare you lay a hand on my daughter!" Loghain roared as he surged forward, drawing his sword from his sheath.

Aedan drew his sword, and blocked the blow, but cringed under the mighty blow as pain erupted in his right hand, the vibrations from the hit causing his whole arm to ring in agony. Unable to help himself, Zevran slapped his hands over his eyes. He couldn't watch.

Knowing this would turn into a bloodbath, Teyrn Cousland intervened, grabbing Loghain by the collar of his armor and pulling him back, then stepping in between him and Aedan.

"That is enough!" he shouted, the tone of his voice demanding respect from them, which they gave, reluctantly in Aedan's case, but he didn't want everyone ganging up on him with his crippled arm, "There has been enough blood shed to last a thousand lifetimes. Put your anger aside and focus what is really important here, which is the country's well-being."

He shot a look at Aedan when he said than, who glared back before sheathing his sword. Loghain reluctantly sheathed his, keeping an ever vigilant eye on Aedan. He wasn't going to let him hurt his daughter.

Anora got to her feet, her hand placed over the stinging flesh that was already bruising from the hit. Being her father's daughter, she stormed over to Aedan, and slapped him across the face.

"How dare you touch me like that?" she seethed, "I am your wife!"

Aedan growled in anger and grabbed her by her arm, "You and I need to talk."

He literally drug her out of the hall, since she wasn't about to go anywhere with him, but he was too strong and her shoes did nothing but slide easily across the stone floor. Loghain was about to go after them when Teyrn Cousland held out an arm to stop him.

"I know she's your daughter," he began, "But I think you've done enough."

"He will hurt her, you know that!"

"The possibility is rather high, but there is still the chance that they'll have a heated argument," the Teyrn replied, "I think he values his position too highly to chance losing it by further abuse."

"Well I'm not going to stand here and just let him," Loghain growled, pushing the Teyrn aside and exiting the hall the same door Aedan took Anora through.

Teyrn Cousland sighed. This already wasn't going well.


Dragging Anora to their bedroom, Aedan threw her inside before slamming the door shut behind them. She stumbled, but caught her footing before she fell onto the floor, and swiveled around to face her husband.

"How can you side with Fergus?" he asked venomously, "He is trying to stop us putting away criminals!"

"They're not exactly criminals Aedan."

"Olyvia attacked me!" he roared, closing the distance between them so he was shouting in her face, "You saw her! That was a crime. And do you really want Alistair still around, a threat to our rule?"

"You know I want to keep my title, and I would feel better with him out of the way, but if they've been gone for this long why keep searching?"

"Because they may be waiting until we lower our guard!" Aedan shouted, "So why are you trying to stop me?"

"Causing another civil war is not the solution to this!" Anora shouted back, "Why aren't you thinking straight Aedan? This is very unlike how you were when we first met. You could actually think things through back then!"

Anger flashed in Aedan's eyes and he grabbed Anora by the throat. She instinctively grabbed his hand, trying to pry it off, but again she wasn't nearly strong enough. He wasn't squeezing hard enough to choke her, but enough to give her the message that she was pissing him off and didn't want to hear another word from her. After a few moments, he took in a deep breath, and seemed to forcibly remove his hand, dropping it back to his side.

"I am your wife Aedan," she said, tears springing to her eyes, "You shouldn't be treating me like this. We should be working together."

"You say that, but you won't allow me to do what I must to hunt down these fugitives."

"You don't discuss anything with me Aedan," Anora went on, "You only demand things from me. That is not how it works. If we want to bring Ferelden out of the hole it's in, we need to work together and focus on that. Not Alistair and Olyvia. We can focus on them at a later date."

Aedan growled in frustration, "But I want to find them and take care of them now!"

"Do you even hear yourself? You sound like a child!"

He glared at her, and opened his mouth to retort when there was a knock on the door. Whirling around, he stomped over and opened it to find Loghain standing there.

"What?" he shouted.

"If you think I'm going to leave you alone with my daughter after what you did, you are sorely mistaken," Loghain growled.

Anora walked over to the door, "Father, I'm fine."

He still didn't take his glare off Aedan, and didn't move either. Anora sighed.

"Please Father, you'll just make this worse."

"I'm not—."

"Please go," she said with a more authoritative tone.

With a disgruntled growl, he reluctantly turned and walked away. Aedan slammed the door shut and stormed over to the bed where he threw himself down on top of it. Anora sighed. He certainly was childish. What in the name of the Maker happened with him?


Aedan was just so…angry. He never felt so angry before, it was rather unlike him. How could two people cause such hate and anger? It was exhausting.

It's because it's Alistair and Olyvia, he thought bitterly. Alistair is just too…happy, too sarcastic. No one deserves to be that happy and the sarcasm is annoying. And then Olyvia…she ruined my life. I can barely fight with this arm of mine now thanks to her. I will make her pay for that. I will make them both pay for what they've done to me. It's both their fault.

And being angry, and doing the things he did, was all he could do to tame the demon inside him before it reared its ugly head.